pia, still remain. They indicate, in the opinion of the
learned friend to whom an allusion has been lately made, a
competent knowledge of his subjects, though they are not
the work of one who would be called a high man, at Cam-
bridge. He adds, however, that had Mr. Buchanan been a
candidate for a public honour, he would doubtless have dis-
tinguished himself.
How entirely he was satisfied as to his determination
upon this point, may be inferred from the total absence of
any sentiment of regret respecting it in his correspondence
at this period. He was evidently intent upon an object wiiich
he deemed of far higher importance, as the following con-
clusion of the letter in which he announced the close of his
mathematical career, sufficiently testifies.
<< It is said that those who travel heavenwards acquire
<•' new strength from the toil of the way ; Itei- instaurabit
'( vires. I wish I found it so. I clamber up hill with difficul-
« ty. It may be, I have not laid aside every rveight ; or,
<« perhaps, I have not used the proper * lamp to my path.'
«* If so, it is a great happiness that the weariness of the way
<^ reproves me.
« To I wish to be remembered, as to fellow-pil-
" grims ; who, in their journey to the holy land, have learned
" to sympathise with those whose knees are feeble, and who
" travel slowly. Perhaps to some of them, or to you, ' the
" delectable mountains' are already in view ; if so, « the
*< shining ones' are at hand, to conduct you to the holy city ;
«* where, I hope, ere long you will meet
" Your very affectionate son,
« C. B."
DR. BUCHANAN. 89
Mr. Buchanan was so entirely occupied with the pursuits
of learning and religion, that the politics of tlie day, though
of a peculiarly alarming and interesting nature, seldom
found a place in his correspondence. On one or two occa-
sions, however, he shews that Ijc was by no means indifferent
upon the subject, and expresses that mixture of truth and
error which might be expected from a pious and acute, but
young and ardent mind, speculating upon points, which baf-
fled the penetration of the most able and experienced obser-
vers. Amidst a variety of other remarks, the following,
however, from its singular correspondence with subsequent
events, seems deserving of insertion.
<« Perhaps," says Mr. Buclianan, " the opinion of Sir
« Isaac Newton is correct, that antichristian superstition is
" only to be eradicated by the strong hand of infidelity. It
" may be agreeable to Providence, to permit infidel armies
" to ravage the world, to destroy superstition, and then to
" strew with Bibles the vacant lands."
The history of the last twenty years has tended in a most
striking manner to verify this conjecture. We have seen
antichristian superstition checked and depressed, though
not eradicated, by the strong arm of infidelity ; w hile we be-
hold many of the desolated lands upon the Continent literally
< strewed with Bibles,^ by the pious charity of our own highly-
favoured country ; which, after raising an effectual barrier
against the tyranny by which every other European nation
was oppressed, has survived to be the instrument of con-
tinued, and, it may be hoped, of still greater blessings to the
world.
Upon the general subject of politics, as well as upon that
of patriotism, of which, as he thought, Mr. Buchanan had
taken an erroneous view, Mr. Newton remonstrated with his
less experienced correspondent. To the latter of these
points he recurs in the following terms in his next letter.
" I scarcely recollect what I said in my last on the sub-
<f ject of the amor patrice ; but I am ready to unsay it, if I
<« cannot otherwise subscribe to the general tenor of your
<« answer. It is natural to expect some little difference in
M
go MEMOIRS OF
" deciding on a speculative point, particularly if tlie parties
"judge for themselves, and if tliey be of different ages.
" The old man may have a stock of premises far superior to
<* the young man's ; and therefore their conclusions will
<* differ, tliough each may argue correctly from his own
" data.
<* There are some subjects of secondary importance, on
*< which I do not expect to have a determined opinion, till
** forced perhaps by the impatience of hoary hairs ; for
*< though I hope, yet I do not expect, to shew so little of dog-
" matic and narrative old age as you do ; and for this reason,
<* that nature has made some difference in the constitution of
" our minds, (which is as lasting as the diflferent conforma-
*< tion of our bodies,) namely, to you she has given a placid,
«< to me a sanguine, temper."
In the passage which follows, some acute observations oc-
cur on the nature of superstition and prejudice, which are
not unworthy being preserved.
<« I have learned one lesson, I think, since I came to the
<* University, viz. my own ignorance. On some disputable
«« points, such as, the best metliod of preaching, the use of
« the world as not abusing it, the connection of things civil
" and religious, forms of government, and the distinctions
<i between the Jewish and Christian dispensations — On such
«« points, I say, my opinions seem to derive a new complex-
" ion from every new year. In one view this is proper ;
*« for not to cliange in sentiment on such things, would argue
" a man to be stationary or retrograde in improvement, or at
" best to be the superstitious disciple of some pope or infal-
<< lible pedagogue. In some measure I envy such persons :
<« certainty is doubtless a happiness ; and therefore the su*
*< perstitious are generally so far happy. Many good Chris-
<« tians are superstitious. Indeed, he must be a man of sin-
♦< gular learning and piety, who is not superstitious in some
<< degree. For instance, most men have a superstitious re-
" gard for their peculiar form of worship. An Englishman
« regards his Liturgy as superstitiously as a Roman Catho-
" lie his mass-book. Those who have less ceremony than
DR. BUCHANAN. 91
** the English church, have a superstitious reverence for
« what they have left : and I can easily conceive a man to
« have a superstitious regard for the want of ceremony.
" Nothing but a cultivated mind, and the constant peru-
*« sal of the New Testament, seem capable of delivering men
« from unnecessary prejudices and prepossessions. Grace
« does not necessarily do it. Some wonder at this ; but why
"should they? Grace converts the heart, but it does not
"teach the understanding what the understanding may
" learn without it ; and therefore it does not remove preju-
" dice. For prejudice is founded on ignorance ; on an igno-
" ranee of facts. Till these facts then are communicated,
" prejudice remains ; knowledge, therefore, i. e. learning,
« philosophy, or by what name soever it may be called, is
"necessary to remove prejudice."
It is obvious that the foregoing remarks, though substan-
tially correct, require considerable judgment to apply them
with safety to any important subject. Their influence on
some opinions expressed by Mr. Buchanan in the subse-
quent part of this letter, on the politics of the day, forms no
uninstructive comment upon the difficulty which attends
such discussions. These opinions it is unnecessary now to
produce. It is but just, however, to add the following
modest and sensible acknowledgment of the hesitation with
which he had adopted them.
" Since you wished me to write what I thought on these
•< subjects, I have done so. I shall thank you now to burn
" these sheets, as they contain the eff'usion of an unripe
"judgment. Whether I shall ever attain to a correct esti-
" mate of the points I have handled, I know not; but if ever
" I do, it can only be by the concurrence of these three
" causes ; the influence of the Holy Spirit, to preserve my
" aff'ections pure before God ; the knowledge of new facts ;
" and the power of reasoning accurately. No two of them
" seem sufficient for judging in matters irrelevant to our
<' salvation.
" I have not seen the mission of the Moravian Brethren.
*» I am inclined to think these excel others, because evange-
9IJ MEMOIRS OF
•* lizin.i^ barbarians is their ^rade. Their children are inspi-
" red with dignified ideas of it at an early age, which co-
" operating with ordinary grace, produces these mirabilia.^'
There is no doubt much truth in this last remark. It must,
however, at the same time, be acknowledged, that tlie very
circumstance of inculcating an early reverence for the office
of a missionary, is in itself a proof of the prevalence of that
spirit of simple and devoted piety, which is the earnest and
pledge of the success with which the eftbrts of the United
Brethren in promoting Christianity among the Heathen
have been crowned.
In the month of May following the date of the preceding
letter, Mr. Buchanan informed Mr. Newton, who was now
anxiously looking forward to his ordination, that he was to
take his degree at the ensuing commencement, that is, on
the 8th of July ; that his ordination studies would engage his
attention for the next two months ; and that early in Sep-
tember he purposed to be in London. His venerable friend
having complained of his increasing deafness, Mr. Buchan-
an, with his usual affectionate piety, endeavours to console
him under this infirmity.
" Your deafness," he observes, ** is no doubt an evil ; but
*« you have been afflicted with it for good. Your reflections
" upon it shew this. Some are alarmed at the decays of age
<« in their Christian friends. Why should they ? When I see
^« the aged Christian losing one faculty and then another, I
<* only see him passing through various * changes of untried
<< being,' till at last he throws off" this < mortal coil' itself.
" Deafness, or blindness, or mental weakness, are but pre-
*< cursors of immortality ; they announce that heaven is at
*» hand.
" Nor are they without present use. The grateful and rea-
<< sonable reflections your short indisposition produced, are
»« perhaps of more value to your soul, considering it as strug-
*« gling for heavenly purity, than new accessions of mental
♦< power, or new refinements in every sense.
« Were it agreeable to the will of God, the youthful Chris-
** tian might find it a happy experience to suffer the tempo-
DR. BUCHANAN. 93
" rary ios8 of every faculty he possesses. Nothing bat expe-
" rience, it seems, can teach us the value of these common bles-
" sings; and until we learn the value of them, we cannot
« be grateful. But the Lord sends us our sufferings in the
" fulness of time. To us it is given to be made conformable
" to Christ. This great suflferer has sent us his Comforter,
" to wait on infirmity and declining age. What more noble
<« object does the all-seeing sun behold, tlian the * patient
*< sufferer?^ It is awful to little minds; and makes them
" tremble at the thought of that purity of soul which heaven
«< demands.
" If you wish for an epitaph couched in a single word, 1
<« hope it will not be FuL Your friends indeed might expound
*' it in the manner you mention, but the stranger would do it
" dift'erently. 'When /say, Fui^ I mean to say, ' My glory
*< is past,' Ilium fuitf < Troy is fallen.' Rather write, Futui^s
«< siivif < My glory is to come.' King Arthur's epitaph boasts
'* both of glory past and glory to come.
*• Hie jacet Arthurus
" Rex quondam et Rex futurus."
« But I am persuaded you will only think of the glory to
«« come; and let kings talk of their glory past."
Mr. Buchanan was now within a few months of his ordi-
nation ; and to that important termination of his academical
course he from this time more particularly directed his at-
tention. Of his chastened ardour in the pursuit of mathema-
tical science, and of his successful cultivation of classical
literature, some account has been already given. A series
of commonplace books from the year 1793, afford also abun-
dant and satisfactory proof of his diligence in the acquisition
of general knowledge. Some years after he had left Cam-
bridge, having occasion to refer to his employments there,
Mr. Buchanan observed to a friend, that during his residence
at the University, <* he had tasted of almost every science,
« and had endeavoured to bend all his acquirements to wor
« thy ends. The memorials of his studies, which have been
just alluded to, bear ample testimony to the truth of tiiis state-
ment. His commonplace books contaiii^bridjjments of lee-
94 MEMOIRS OF
tures on anatomy, harmonics, manufactures, and experimen-
tal pliilosophy ; abstracts of Locke, of Grotius, and Paley on
the evidences of Christianity, of parts of Smith's Wealth of
Nations, of Aristotle's Rhetoric, and of some historical works.
References occur to Bacon, Cudworth, Stillingfleet, Chilling-
worth, and other great authors. Extracts from various wri-
ters both ancient and modern, chiefly with reference to moral
and theological subjects. Notes of sermons preached before
the University. Important historical facts, with occasional
reflections upon them; the meaning of remarkable words,
phrases, and customs ; observations, either altogether origi-
nal, or digested from diff*erent authors, and expressed in his
own words — on infidelity ; on natural and revealed religion;
on style and eloquence; on memory and imagination; on
real and alleged enthusiasm, and on the use of reason in reli-
gion ; on various branches of political economy ; on the
French Revolution ; and on war. One of the most useful and
interesting portions, however, of these adversaria, comprises
a series of remarks on different parts of Scripture ; on the
best method of reading the Bible ; on the spirit and design
of the sacred writings, particularly with respect to their hor-
tatory and practical style ; on preaching, and in general on
the ministerial office ; on prayer ; on personal piety ; and on
the Christian warfare.
These multifareous observations afford evident marks of
extensive reading, of a correct taste, and a sound judgment.
They exhibit much acuteness and refinement, much enlarge-
ment and originality of thoughts much acquaintance with
himself and with the human character, " a mind of large
« discourse," anxious to derive information from every quar-
ter, ever on the wing to extract sweetness from every flower,
and solicitous to employ the whole to some valuable purpose.
* Amongst a great variety of other subjects, one of Mr. Buchanan's commonplace
books contains some remarks which are strongly characteristic of a vein of humour
and archness, joined with penetration in studying human nature, for which he was
remarkable. An equally striking indication of his wakeful attention to practical utility,
may be perceived in the insertion in another book of a list of anthems caloulated to
excite devotional affections.
DR. BUCHANAN. 95
What that purpose was, we may learn from his own words in
one of the memoranda in question.
" Is not," he asks, " the grand, the only object of my life,
<f to preach Christ to men ? Let me, therefore, convert every
« species of mental food into spiritual nourishment ; whether
" it be Homer or Milton, Gibbon or Hume, that I read ;
*« whether it be with intelligent or unlearned men that I
« converse ; or whether it be sitting or walking that I me-
« ditate."
Again, observes Mr. Buchanan, <« If the cross be continu-
« ally in view, there is, perhaps, no line we read, no object
" we see, no fact we hear, but may be improved, by applying
" it to Christ, to ourselves, or to those around us. Such ex-
" ercise as this would give a holy fertility to the imagina-
« tion."
It would not be difficult to select from the copious collec-
tions in question a variety of useful and interesting obser-
vations upon the important subjects which they embrace, as
well as many striking illustrations of the sentiments expres-
sed in the preceding quotations. For the sake, however, of
brevity, two or three passages only shall be extracted, as a
specimen of many others which might be adduced.
The first is from some remarks on Paley's definition, in
his View of the Evidences, of the design of Christianity as a
divine revelation ; that is, as he represents it, to acquaint
mankind with the doctrine of a future state. To which Mr.
Buchanan replies, " No. Because, although men had been
" acquainted with this by an extraordinary messenger, they
" could not obtain heaven in the way proposed, namely, by
" observing the precepts of Christianity. No one can keep
<< them. It would have been an unhappy, an unwelcome
<< revelation indeed-—' There is a future state. Do this, and
*< live to enjoy it.' Is this Christianity ?
" The Christian might then say, < I wish we had not heard
«' of this. I wish we could have been left to solace ourselves
" with the thought of future Elysian fields, and waters of
" Lethe, and a temporary punishment : we had then never
<« heard of everlasting chains, and penal fire.'
96 MEMOIRS OF
" No. The news by Christ is not," (lie evidently means,
not merely,) " that there is a future heaven ; but rather how
<< to attain it. Christianity is the solution ol'that celebrated
'• question of Job, * How shall man be just with God ?' Were
<< I, therefore, to describe in very few words, the scope of
« Christianity as a revelation, I should say, that it was to
*< shew < how God could be just, and the justifier of him that
" believes in Jesus.' The particular information, (for we
" had the general before,) is merely collateral. It is a part
" only of the Gospel. The angel announced it to the shep-
" herds, not as discovering a future state, but a Saviour.
*< * Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour,
<< which is Christ the Lord.' And St. Paul speaks of the
<^ Gospel as revealing the < righteousness of God by faith of
*< Jesus Christ.' " (Rom. iii. 22.)
It may perhaps be thought, that in these remarks Mr.
Buchanan has interpreted Paley's definition of the design of
Christianity too strictly. It is certain, however, that the
revelation of a future state is desciibed by that admirable
writer in the work in question, too exclusively as the object
of the Gospel; and that its grand message of salvation
through a divine Redeemer ought, under the actual condition
of mankind, to be upon all occasions more prominently ex-
hibited.
The next extract is of a more general, but not less impor
tant nature.
<^ That man is unacquainted with the constitution of the
<« human mind, who does not know that it stands in constant
•< need of being roused to action. You will answer, /pass a
" very active life. But what principle has roused you to this
"activity? Is it the acquisition of wealth? love of fame?
^« love of splendour ? the gratification of a particular pas-
" sion ? Or is it a principle of piety towards God? a convic-
f* tion of a future judgment ? a view of the cross ?
"We do not ask in what your activity consists; that is
" unnecessary : because if we learn the motive, we learn the
<« action. Christianity is properly a religion of motives : it
" teaches us that a good tree cannot but bring forth good
DR. BUCHANAN. 97
♦* fruit, that good principles will produce good actions. And
*< therefore it is, that it is of little service to declaim against
« a particular vice^ for though one he removed, another will
** spring up. How can the streams be pure, if the fountain
<f be troubled ? Hence too it is, that no spiritual tyranny
" can be compared to that of the preacher insisting tliat his
" hearers should practise particular virtues, without giving
«' them a principle which can produce such. It is like say-
*< ing to the leper, < Be clean,' without pointing to the puri-
<* fying waters of Jordan.
<* Here too failed the Pagan philosophers. They insisted
'« on certain virtues, but they knew of no soul-subduing
" principle. When at last a principle was proposed to them
« from heaven, some received it ; but the many rejected it,
<« because it was too simple, too humbling, too inconsistent
<»\vith human dogmas and human pride. So it is now. It
<« is easy to descant in metaphor and trope on the beauties
*^ of virtue, the unseemliness of vice, and the fitness of
'< things ; but it is difficult to preach Christ crucified. It is
•< easy to say what men ought to be ; but it is difficult to say
"^ what the Scripture declares they are.
** If any one should deny this, we would ask one question.
.. "Why were the Apostles persecuted ? Why were the preach-
** €fs of holiness despised?"
The third extract from the memorials of Mr. Buchanan's
academical reflections and studies contains some brief obser-
vations on several important points. The first, relating to
enthusiasm in religion, is one only of a series of remarks,
which prove how carefully he had studied that subject, and
with what jealousy he viewed any approach to enthusiasm,
justly so called.
" Fanaticism proves nothing against religion. It is one of
«< its diseases; and implies no more that there is no such
« thing as religion, than madness that there is no reason,
" or distemper that there is no health. ^
9S MEMOIRS OF
^< To detect Enthusiasm in one's self or others.'*
" When a rational account cannot be given of our actions.
** The truly religious man can always give a reason of the
<* hope that is in him. The enthusiast contents himself with
•^ enveloping his views in some mysterious passage of Scrip-
<« ture, inexplicable even to himself, though influencing his
»* conduct."
«< The enthusiasm sanctioned by Scripture is innoxious.
« It is a lambent flame, which warms and animates the soul
« to heavenly converse. By reason it is sought, by reason
*< directed in its operation. But that lawless principle of
*< which we speak, like an ignis fatuus^ leads the benighted
*« soul into an abyss of error and absurdity.^'
<'«The wicked cannot be eternally punished,' says the
^' philosopher, * for it is contrary to my reason.' < Thy rea-
" son,' replies the Almighty, « What reason hast thou to
^< judge of my purposes ? " As the heavens are higher than
<« the earth, so are my thoughts higher than thy thoughts."
<< The portion of reason which I have given thee, is suffi-
<* cient, if rightly exercised, to teach thee to believe all that
<< I declare, whether thou understandest it or not.'
<« But the philosopher will not submit his reason to God:
•• he chooses to be an infidel. He laughs at the ignorance
*« and obstinacy of the rustic, who refuses to believe that the
'< earth moves round the sun, because it contradicts the evi-^
«< dence of his sight ; while he himself, more stupidly igno-
^i rant, more unpardonably obstinate, disbelieves < the word
-of God!'"
*< When you find yourself active and alert in body and
** mind, your spirits high, and your understanding clear and
•< capable of great things, then betake yourself to prayer^
<• be it noon or night. Give to God your best hours. '^
DR. BUCHANAN. 99
•• Christianity was at first assisted in its propagation by
•i the civilization and extent of the Roman empire.
« Thus our extensive commerce with the known woild
" ought to aid it once more."
One other extract from Mr. Buchanan's collections will
recal our attention to the progress of this Memoir. It con^
tains his practical inferences from a view of the office of dea-
^^ cons in the primative church, apparently compiled from
^* Irenseus.
<< It is my business," he concludes from this vievv, •* to
'' keep in the background, considering myself as but a ser-
•• vant or under- worker ; to try to endear my rector more
«^ to his people, little solicitous about my own fame ; only
•^ anxious to promote his cause by exemplary conduct, and
•< to fill up the blank spaces or intervals of his labours ; for
*• though blank places are supplied by an unskilful hand, it
" does not much disfigure the work. Mine, in short, I con-
»* ceive, is to be, the humble office of performing the me-
»* chanical part of the sacerdotal function."
The singular humility of these reflections, combined with
the preceding evidence of his piety, as well as of his literary
and theological attainments, sufficiently testify the fidelity